Improvement in axes



til f UNITED STATES flhrrnNf'r rrrcn.

HARVEY MANN, OF BELLEFONTE, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN AXES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,480, dated June 3, 1862.

To @ZZ whom may concern:

Be it known that I, HARvEY MANN,of Bellefonte, in the 'county of Centre and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered a ing `characteristics between my invention and what has been previously known or done in this manufacture, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apartot this specification, in which- Figures l, 2, 3, and 4 illustrate the present plan of working and welding on the steel in the manufacture of axes, and Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 illustrate my new and improved mode of accomplishing the same obj ect,and by which mode I am enabled to make a much better ax in all respects than by the mode or plan heretofore practiced.

The almost if not universal plan of putting on the steel onto axes is that of making the edge of the steel bar the cutting-edge of the ax. It is well known that that portion of asteel bar is not the strongest-that is to say, not the most capable of resisting weight or force. The sides of the bar,being either more refined, more worked, or more tenacious, has more enf durance or more resisting properties than the i -edgehas, and henceI make the cuttingedge of the ax from the side of the steel bar instead of from the edge.` When the cuttingedge of the aX is drawn down and formed from the edge of the steel bar, a flaw in the bar may be continued down to and be a iaw in the ax without being detected or exposed. By my plan of making the cutting-edge of the ax from the side of the bar, this could not happen, because the metalis folded over by my plan, and

`if there be a flaw in the bar it will be exposed and the drawing `down of the metal to form the cutting-edge would weld the flaw shut or so expose itself as to be detected and thrown aside if imperfect; and when the cutting-edge of the ax is formed from the edge of the steel bar, the corners ofthe bar are ,drawn down over the center portion, and thus. the edge is made from these corners, as it were,which have not the compact fibrous strength of the `more solid portion ofthe bar. By my method of making the cutting-edge of the ax from the side of the steel bar, the center of the bar is forced along, in drawing down, in advance of' the corners or outside, and thus I get the cutting-edge from the very lirmest and most tenacious portion of the steel bar. t

In the plan now practiced the iron of the pole or body of the ax is outside cf the steel at the weld. This oftenfcauses the ax to eat the wood,7 as it is termed by wood-choppers, as it tends to throw the cutting-edge into or out of the wood, particularly so after using the ax a short time, as the iron wears faster than the steel andleaves an uneven surface at the weld. I so put on the steel as that it shall be on the outside of the iron at the weld and extend up on the iron above the weld, so that the wear comes upon the steel and prevents the unevenness at the weld, and thus also prevents the ax from eating the wood.77

-It may be said that the steel bar could be split on the edge andthe iron of the ax inserted into the split, and that when welded the steelv would be on the outside of the iron. This is true; but the expense, in the first place, is too great for any advantage gained by such plan, while it would make the cutting-edge of the ax from the edge of the bar,which [have above shown to be objectionable and what I` `aim to avoid. v

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe, rst, the mode practiced at present in welding on the steel, and, secondly, my improved vplan of putting .on the steel, so that the difference between the two plans will be readily seen.

A, Fig. 1, represents a piece of steel cut from a bar, to be shaped, welded, and drawn down to form the cutting edge of au ax. A in Fig. 2 represents the same piece of steel scarfed off at the edge b previous to its being inserted in the split ofthe pole or body of the ax to be welded. f

` B, Fig. 3, represents the axblank roughly forged out,with the steelinserted in the split, ready to be welded, and C, Fig. 4, represents the finished ax.

The edge a of the original piece of steel is the portion of which the cutting-edge of the aX is formed, and the lips c c of the split or gash of the iron B cover or are outside ofthe e steel, and when welded and drawn down the steel will show on the ax at about the red line drawn in Fig. 4.

In drawing down the piece of steel A the corners d are bent over and forward, and when it arrives at its wedge or tapered forni these corners, which are foreed from the body of the metal, and whose fibrous or tenacious properties are impaired thereby, become the part of which the edge of the aX is to be made, and thus an inferior portion or quality of metal is put in the place where the very best should be, and this cannot be avoided so long as the cutting-edge ofthe ax is formed out of the edge of the bar of steel.

In my process I may start with the same piece of steel as that shown in Fig. 1, A. The first operation is to scarf down the two edges b b', as shown in Fig. 6, leaving the center portion, a', of the bar comparatively untouched and considerably raised up above the scarfed edges. This piece A', so wrought, is then placed on a die or former and bent up into a U or bow shaped form, as shown in Fig. 7, and is slipped over the axblank Bl, as shown in Fig. 8, the lips or searfed edges b of the steel extending some distance up and outside of the iron. The

- steel thus placed is then welded to the iron and drawn down to the proper taper or wedge forni, as represented at e in Fig. 9, Where the line of the steel will show at aboutthe red line in said figure, so that with the same amount of steel as in the old plan a much greater portion of it is on the sides ofthe ax, whilethere is abundant to form the cutting-edge as long as the ax will last.

The cutting-edge of the ax (shown at 0') is made from the portion a of the original piece of steel, and from that portion of it which is from its tenacious or reijned nature the very best for that purpose,while the sides of the ax are protected by steel much higher up, and the shoulder at the union of the iron and steel, instead of resisting the penetration of the ax in the wood, is turned the other Way, and of course thus offers no resistance to the penetration of the ax into the Wood. The result of this Inode of working and welding the steel onto axes iu their manufacture is that a very superior ax is produced, which has upon trial withstood tests that the axes made in the usual way will not stand.

Having thus fully described the nature and object of my invention and shown wherein it differs from the mode as at present practiced in the manufacture of axes,what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,y is- Searfing the steel at its edges and bending it into a U or bow shape, so as to slip over the end of the blank or iron part of the ax to be welded thereon, substantially in the manner and for the purpose herein represented.

i e HARVEY MANN,

Vituessts:

A. B. SToUoH'roN, HARRY W. PRICE. 

